Richard Huzzey calls for Ian Blair to go, and points out the irony of a Government minister having his conversation recorded:

The only consolation, if this is the end of his reign, is that the cabinet may think twice again before claiming that privacy is irrelevant and only those with anything to hide have anything to fear from the police

It’s great to see such incisive and detailed discussion of the education bill. Take today’s theguardian:

Michael Connarty, MP for Linlithgow and East Fife, said: “I think Ruth Kelly has done a wonderful job with a very, very bad idea, but it’s still a bad idea.”

Yup, that’s pretty much the level of debate in this article (and we’ll skim over the fact that Michael Connarty is an MP for a Scottish constituency not covered by this bill). The whole piece is about trying to predict how many Labour MPs will rebel. Is news so thin on the ground that we can’t just wait and see? Last night’s Panorama was on the same subject, following the rebels and trying to infer whether a big rebellion would speed Tony Blair’s depature. Discussion of the proposals themselves was relegated to a few mentions here and there.

Governments are supposed to lose votes, of course. Blair’s massive majorities in 1997 and 2001 insulated him and the idea of Labour trouncing all opposition on every vote became the status quo. Now that Labour are less dominant in the House of Commons, you would expect Blair to lose the occasional vote. But what’s most tedious about this “will-they-won’t-they” coverage of the rebellion is that the bill is going to pass.

The Tories, Her Majesty’s Opposition, think they have a great wheeze to get rid of Blair sooner – and they long to face to Gordon Frown. We’re being told that a bill passed only because of Tory support would be a disaster for Blair. And yet, with the Tories backing the education bill, Blair is likely to achieve one of the largest majorities for any of his public service reforms. Whether we like the proposals or not, Blair has secured a consensus amongst a significant chunk of Members of Parliament – a sign, surely, of success for a Prime Minister. If the Tories really want to hurry him out of Number 10, actually defeating his flagship education policy would surely be a better way.

From theguardian again:

The prime minister’s working majority is 69, so the rebels need 35 votes against to force a reliance on the Conservatives. One rebel campaigner said this would leave Tony Blair running a “minority administration”.

No, it wouldn’t. Because this is one issue, and on this one issue the Tories are voting in favour. That’s an administration with an even higher majority than it got in May 2005, not a minority administration. It may be a sign that Blair is implementing Tory policies – but to whom is that news after nearly nine years of his premiership? It could equally be a sign that the Tories now back New Labour policies.

Nor does relying on Tory support show that Blair has lost the support of his party. If 50% of his MPs were voting against, then yes. Even if 20% were voting against him. But we’re talking about a rebellion of around 10%. They are the ones who will be appalled if the bill gets through on Tory votes, but we already know most of them want Blair out. The vast majority of Labour MPs will vote in favour.

Has it really been a month? More selected numbers, this time from the latest two sets of Dewey Decimal subject mappings.

• The eyes have it: Peacocks in art – 704.943286258
• Vicar of Dibleyest number: Clergy on television – 791.456827
• 100,00 BC: Prehistoric peoples on television – 791.45658
• “But she hates James Blunt already”: Musical perception in infants – 155.422215
• Don’t go there: Sin City (Imaginary place) – 741.5973
• We’re turning Chinese, I really think so: Sinicization – 303.48251
• The fraud that got away was this big: Phishing – 005.8
• Beam me up, Scotty: Quantum teleportation – 530.12
• Fairly long number: Sephardim in literature – 809.933529924046
• Very long number: Quetzalcoatl in literature – 808.80382997845202113

These large numbers are, however, dwarfed by this monstrosity from the Canadian subject mapping for works about a four-and-a-half month strike at the Versatile tractor plant in Winnipeg:

Buhler Versatile Inc. Strike, Winnipeg, Man., 2000-2001 – 331.892829225209712743090511

Wow. It’s certainly the longest I’ve ever seen. And they say size isn’t everything.

I see they’ve picked this one out at Dewey Towers too.

Looking for publications of the US government online? Then try the relaunched Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

Searching on “United Kingdom”, I found a “Protocol amending tax convention with the Netherlands“. This is a

message from the President of the United States transmitting protocol amending the convention between the United States of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income (including exchange of notes with attached understanding)

The language of the message is a little archaic (although the UK Parliament is hardly a shining example of modern language):

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith for Senate advice and consent to ratification, the Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, signed at Washington, DC., on March 8, 2004. Transmitted for the Senate’s information is an exchange of notes with an attached Understanding, which provides clarification with respect to the application of the Convention, as amended, in specific cases. Also transmitted for the information of the Senate is the report of the Department of State with respect to the Protocol.

[…]

I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to this Protocol, and that the Senate give its advice and consent to ratification.

GEORGE W. BUSH.